Wizard World's Philadelphia Comic Con - Day 1 (Friday)

From the moment I stepped off the train at Market East, I could see that the convention was indeed in town. People all around the train station were in costumes, carrying yellow "Wizard World" bags, and heading towards the convention center. Once there, I was a little disappointed when I walked in to see the ground floor almost empty. Surely a convention of this size would take up the entire convention center. I checked in, got my bracelet and headed to the escalator. I can now say that they didn't need the ground floor. Unlike the car show which needs space, Comic Con was tight packed into the second floor. Break out sessions were held on the first floor (more on those tomorrow).

I walked around and took in my surroundings. The middle area was full of booths. There was a lightsaber booth, a classic video game booth, a tower of t-shirts booth, and more. This was a geeks dream flea market. Booth after booth of geekdoms. To the left were tons of artists selling prints and signing comic books.

The back was where the autograph opportunities took place. I walked by to check it out and was blown away. Autograph prices ranged from $30 for some lesser known celebrities to $195. I didn't get any autographs but that didn't stop me from checking out the lines. Karen Gillan (Doctor Who, Guardians of the Galaxy) was starting her signings when I walked by so I was able to see the beginning. Karen came in from the back of the curtain, said a few words to the crowd before sitting down to sign autographs.

I continued on my journey of Comic Con and saw some awesome stuff. There was a full size Tardis for photo-ops. I took a picture but I'm going to wait until tomorrow to retake them in my costume. Yes, for my second day of Comic Con, I'm going to cosplay as River Song. Perfect costume for a Tardis picture. Other photo-ops included the Delorean, a Jurassic Park Jeep, becoming an X-Men, and more. Some cost money, others ask for donations, and a few were free. Most of the more extreme cosplays are also more than willing to take pictures. I saw both Loki and Arrow taking pictures when asked. I met a doppelganger for Silent Bob and he was more than willing to pose for pictures, just don't ask him anything that can't be answered with hand gestures. The guy was really in character and didn't say a word.

I finished off day one with a little speed dating, Comic Con style. Over an hour period, I met about thirty guys. Did anything come from it? That's for me to know. I will tell you that it was an interesting experience and you can tell that it was easy to spot the posers vs the hard core fandoms.

Tomorrow I will take the journey back to the convention center for another day of geeks and fandoms. I will try to update on Twitter but I needed to make a choice between good pictures or instant uploads. I choose to take the pictures with my camera and upload them when I get home. Otherwise, you'll just be looking at cell phone images and where's the fun in that? I am also planning to attend some panels and Q&As. Today was about learning the setup, tomorrow is to actually experience the convention.

Following the convention, I will be writing a full post on how to attend Comic Cons for cheap, possibly free. Keep an eye out because with ticket prices starting at $45 for a single day's admission, and autographs costing another $50, Comic Con can quickly add up to a huge expense.